March 20, 2012

On Friday night, a young African-American teenager, Trayvon Martin, was shot to death in Orlando by a neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman. The media immediately portrayed the death as a case of white on black racism. CBS News, on its Crimesider website, immediately called Zimmerman a “white neighborhood watch volunteer.” Martin’s parents accused the police of racism for not arresting Zimmerman.

There’s only one problem: Zimmerman is Hispanic. Within a few hours of its original report, CBS News was calling Zimmerman a mere “neighborhood watch captain,” without the racial modifier, quoting Zimmerman’s father to the effect that his son is Hispanic.

Not to lessen this teenager's death, but it is now being used as a cry against Florida's gun laws as well as screams of racism.